wild things

Some shots from the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, Maine this past weekend.  Our local wildlife is so much more impressive when it’s up close and not rustling through the garbage bins, making a mess.  The Maine Wildlife Park is a rehabilitation center, so these animals wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild.  For the most part, their enclosures are pretty big.  I’d love to see the mountain lion get a little more room to wander, but the coyote had quite a running space, the moose and bears, too.

Last pic isn’t an animal on display, but she’s native to Maine and definitely very wild!

loud loud loud

Oh, Gosh, Yes.  Sometimes you just need to go stand in a big room full of loud noises with hordes of wonderful, creative people.  Did you see my photography website/blog?  Well, click here for some more pictures and the whole portfolio.

blush

In our travels, I found a wrap blouse from BCBG Max Azria – the shirt itself is just fine, but this bow hanging in the sunlight kinda sums up how I feel about a spell of warm weather this past weekend.

Yes, we’re due for some more snow soon.  It wouldn’t be Maine without it.  Until then!

coffee or tea?

Just added in the shop.  Click the picture to see the listing!  It’s going to be 2° in Portland tomorrow, even with the sun up.  I could definitely use a steaming cup of coffee in the morning.

harbor seals + more

I just can’t get enough of these little baby things, lately.  This harbor seal doodle is an original creation, and we’ve been screen printing onesies in any size for the last year or so, and orders really seem to be picking up.  I decided to add some greeting cards (center) to the repertoire and am just fantasizing what else I can print it on!

Additionally, if our little harbor seal was to have a friend who would it be?  I’m so partial to our native animals.  Another seaside creature or should I venture in to the woods?  Puffins, starfish, sea urchins, sand pipers, terns, humpback whales would all be a pleasure to doodle.  But bobcats, black bears, deer and snowy owls are nothing to shake a stick at either!

orange you glad

vintage teacup from little eye on etsy

It’s February, which means the only thing sustaining any of us until the first 50 degree evening brings us a downpour to wash all the road salt away is pretty much junk food, our favorite tv shows streaming, and bright pops of color almost constantly.

Even though the fresh, white snow is beautiful (and will continue to get taller and taller and still beautiful after the coming three-day Nor’Easter we’re supposed to get, it’s still white.  So white.  So endlessly white.

I’ve been knitting with bright colors on my needles (most recently:  turquoise and orange) and listing brightly colored objects in the Etsy shop to keep my eyes open.  They’ve put me in charge of revamping the kitchen at work at possibly the most daring time of year for me, colorwise.  I think I’m using Stefanie Hiebert’s retro living room as my color inspiration.  Lunch break won’t know what hit it!

ladies size 7.5 tan/navy gumshoe from little eye on etsy

snowy day, bright prints

Good lord, it’s happening again:  6-10 inches of the white stuff started falling this morning just before I left for work.  It’s an excuse to break out the bison boots again, and actually nice to cover up the muddy patches since there’s two more months, minimum, of winter in the north east.  Better to look at a soft blanket of snow than the alternative.  The picture above is from this afternoon’s sweep-off of the car after leaving work a wee bit early to beat the rest of the storm.  Oh yeah!  If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, my name is littleeyedesigns.

Guess what, I couldn’t help myself when I drove by the deserted parking lot at the thrift store.  I found some gauzy, cotton dresses in pretty prints that are just begging for an early Spring.  Me too, pretty dresses, me too!  These will end up in the shop or on Ebay sometime in the next week, so definitely check back!

duck, duck, goose

There is nothing I love finding more on our thrifting outings than Bean boots.  Growing up in Maine, a pair of weathered duck boots (that is, the rubber moc, the low style) is a badge of honor.

Of course most of the time I don’t find them in my oh-so-ubiquitous size (7.5, message me if you find some!) so they get photographed and put in the shop.  The great thing about them is that they get better with age.  Leather with a patina, rubber soles with character and a color that can’t quite be matched by any factory.

These never stay long in the shop, but do check back frequently as I seem to have quite some luck finding pretty much any size (other than 7.5!) in my travels.

shake shake shake

anthropomorphic oranges, what else?

New energy in the shop!  We rifled through the collection to find some bright sunshine for these dull, gray days.  Found a theme just waiting in the stacks of items waiting (patiently, ahem) of salt + pepper shakers, and we’ve listed three in the Little Eye Etsy shop!  Click on the images to take yourself whizzing across the internet to the listings.

love bugs by Ruth van Tellingen Bendel

It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I think these little love bugs are mine.  They were designed by Ruth van Tellingen Bendel in the 1950s for the Regal China Company out of Illinois.  Ruth cut her teeth as a children’s book writer, but her visual language translated very nicely to seasoning delivery vessels.  Aww, here’s their cute little behinds:

You can see the little holes in their head for salt and pepper to come out of!

picnic in style

These are also from the 1950s, hand painted strawberry blossom shakers, oversized, excellent for a retro picnic or camping excursion.  The paint is in awesome condition, but there is just a little wear on the very tops of the plastic lids, presumably because this is the only part you should wash (or wash insides of globes very careful not to get the outside wet).

Just a little snippet!  We spent some more time in the studio snapping pictures of goodies that will be in the shop soon.

fall is here, plus big chill applications

 

Fall’s here, which means excellent things for all of us who live in the north eastern United States.  Namely, pumpkin, apple and cinnamon everything plus an unnaturally high enthusiasm for hurling one’s self at the front lawn at even the smallest of leaf piles.  We’ll need to wait a few weeks before there’s no risk of sciatic damage, but once there’s a big enough leaf pillow in the yard it is party time.

Plus, there I am sitting in an apple tree.  Never too big for that.

In other news, applications have been posted for the 2013 Big Chill craft fair.  My baby!  This is the 5th event I’ve organized at Mayo Street Arts and we’ve got big, big plans for this one.  DIY crafts for young and young at heart, a whole floor of local vendors and, of course, beer + wine available for shoppers.  Yes, being an adult is awesome.